mixed blend of chocolate

Dot Kareshi -We’re 8bit Lovers!- III ~Yami no Hanayome~

Here’s my review for Dot Kareshi -We’re 8bit Lovers!- III ~Yami no Hanayome~. As the heroine has no name, I’ll be going with “Yuu” (for you).

Yuu wakes up and Villager greets her. He’s glad that Yuu has some faint recognition of him since he has met her several times before already……he recalls how one day he dropped his sickle in a nearby lake while gathering herbs. This caused the god of the world, or so he claimed to be, to appear and asked if he dropped the golden, silver or wooden bug. (Note: Bug refers to game bug/error.) The god appeared to be satisfied with his random answer, golden bug, and agreed to grant his wish if Villager continuously prayed to the lake. Villager did as told and on the 100th day, Yuu appeared before him. So he believes that the god granted his wish.

Before Villager can take Yuu back home, Slime appears to suck away his HP lol. He sticks himself onto Yuu, while giving a similar story to Villager’s. He adds that the god granted him human form, so as to first prove that he was truly the god of this world. It doesn’t take long for Dark Lord to appear, though Villager and Slime take a while to notice his presence. As they wonder how he got here, he weakly admits that he can no longer use his dragon after losing that last battle – so he had to walk here lol. He painfully recalls how Yuu grinded so much, to the point of preparing equipment which tackled his weaknesses – that he was wiped out by her in a single blow. His only motivation after that humiliation was to have a rematch with her, so he made the same deal with the god – after dropping his pride in the lake. Dark Knight makes his appearance last, chasing the Dark Lord away from Yuu. He was once under the Dark Lord, but betrayed him to join her side. He asks if she remembers fighting by his side, while adding that he spent most of his time in the horse carriage though. In order to travel by her side properly this time, he made the same wish to god as the rest for the past 100 days. Unlike the rest though, the god had asked if he dropped his golden/silver/wooden pearl……(this is a crude play of words in Japanese).

After this, Yuu meets the said god. He explains that she’s been pulled into the world of Unlimited Quest, the rpg game she was once so engrossed in, thanks to a game bug. Not even the game developers can debug it. He isn’t so sure on how to return her back to her own world, but thinks that playing the game one more time would do the trick. He does know that everyone has their own reasons for wanting to meet her again. The god recalls how previously, Yuu was only focused on clearing the game and ignored all the side quests. He thinks that it would be good for her to take the time to enjoy the game and journey more thoroughly this time. And so Yuu is forced to form a party with these 4 characters. Before they set off though, Dark Lord and Dark Knight point out how thin her armour is and start to inspect her. They harass her, waiting for Yuu to lash out her best attack on them, while Villager and Slime watch on. It takes them forever to realise that Yuu is just a normal girl, and they wonder how they can fulfill their wish like this. Villager and Slime though, don’t mind as much since they just wanted to see Yuu once again.

Eventually, everyone makes their way to Villager’s house for Yuu to check their statuses. Dark Lord has the same status since the time she defeated him. His special and final transformation skill has been locked and he can no longer use it anymore. In fact, before he could unleash that third and last transformation Yuu had wiped him out. As for Dark Knight, after she had defeated him by right there should be a flag for him to betray Dark Lord and join her party. But that game movie would only play if Yuu had rested for the day. Instead, she continued to level up till her whole party’s levels were nearly maxed out. So by the time she noticed the movie and he joined them he was much weaker than everyone else. And so he ended up not being used in her party at all and remained inside the horse carriage the whole time, only eating the red bean bun (anpan) she would feed everyone every day. Thanks to that, the members kept teasing him with the nicknames “the sweet bean paste-eating knight” or “the knight with sweet bean paste presence” (this is a play on the words Dark Knight (ankokukishi) and anpan). Thanks to that, he never ventured out on the sub-quest of searching for his sister’s soul, in which he would play the lead.

Next is Villager who, um, has no skills whatsoever to speak of. If any, perhaps it’s his ability to blend into any street. As for Slime, there’s nothing much to except that he clings to Yuu whenever possible so as to “merge into one”. Dark Knight quickly separates them though, remarking that such single-cell organisms only have one thought in mind. In any case, Yuu has to choose to do one of their quests.

>> Slime: Happy that she chose him, Slime leads everyone to his love nest home – a cave near the lake. On the way, they recall how Yuu massacred thousands of Slime so as to gain money and experience points. Slime delightfully expresses how they did meet over a thousand times, so perhaps they’re tied by a red string of fate pfft. In the cave, Slime explains how Yuu kept meeting him over and over at the same of the game. But as she levelled up, she no longer cared to bother with him. She even got tired of battling him, and started to use an item to drive away weak monsters like himself so he could no longer approach her. No longer want to experience those lonely days and to always be with Yuu, Slime declares that they should “become one” – literally. While the rest look on in embarrassment at first, they start to sense a thickening presence. Meanwhile, Yuu pulls away from Slime as she’s faced with a multitude of Slime beings – literally. As Yuu is engulfed in Slime, Dark Lord unleashes his best magic attack to free her. Though she’s safe now, thanks to Slime her clothes have been pretty disintegrated so Dark Lord passes her his cloak.

Slime is upset at everyone interfering, but they explain to him that he can’t “become one and multiply” with a human being like Slime do. (Though Villager adds that it can be done another way lmao.) Yuu will only end up dying. In the end, Slime promises not to do it again but asks to only remain by her side.

>> Dark Knight: On the way, Dark Lord and Dark Knight are at odds due to the latter’s betrayal. Dark Knight explains that his final goal was not to serve Dark Lord anyway, but to resurrect his sister. His sister fell in love at first sight for a vampire, and not only was her soul taken away, but her body too. He’d managed to retrieve her body but her soul was already gone. Naturally it was impossible to revive her at the church, but he heard of a rumour: there was a magic item which could call back the souls of dead ones and revive them in Dark Lord’s castle. So going there to serve Dark Lord was his only choice. Then, he came to know that there was already a quest in which he’ll go retrieve the item – he just needed to wait for Yuu’s main party to come and welcome him in.

Yet Yuu didn’t do so at all. She ignored his scenario and only focused on levelling up. And by the time she did do so, his level was much lower than everyone else’s. He was stuck in the horse carriage the whole time and she ended the game without going through his quest at all. As Dark Knight blames Yuu for being unable to revive his sister, Dark Lord and Slime are unable to calm him down. Villager mentions that since Yuu already cleared the game once and they have Dark Lord with them, they should be able to finish this quest easily. However, Dark Lord knows nothing of this item. Dark Knight recalls that he heard that the Vampire Queen has the item – in fact, he’s already led them to her mansion. The door opens by itself, and they hear the Vampire Queen welcoming them inside. As they prepare to head inside, Dark Lord warns everyone that there will be loads of traps inside. Villager suggests holding hands so that they don’t get lost pfft. Dark Knight embarrassingly tells everyone to mind their own backs, but takes Yuu’s hand as he will look out for her.

Inside, Yuu nearly gets caught in one and Dark Knight comes to her rescue. He gets embarrassed later at their close contact, while the rest watch on and Dark Lord takes note that women are Dark Knight’s weakness lol. Vampire Queen soon makes her appearance, and targets Yuu, wanting to drink her blood. Dark Knight quickly protects her, and they do their best to defeat the queen. Dark Lord’s offensive magic is ineffective against her, so he focuses on defence while leaving the offence to Dark Knight. However, the queen reminds Dark Knight that his special attacks are just as ineffective as Dark Lord’s as of now. As the queen grabs ahold of Yuu, she reveals that she was the one who sucked Dark Knight’s sister’s blood and made her a lifeless doll. Yuu will have the same fate as her at this rate.

Dark Knight protects Yuu by sacrificing himself, and all of a sudden a bright light appears and causes the queen to burn. Dark Lord recognises that ‘cos Dark Knight sacrificed himself for Yuu, he’s returned to the right path and is now a righteous knight. He tells Dark Knight to use his special attack once more. After he defeats the Vampire Queen, a small ball appears. But Dark Lord checks it, and says that rather than reviving the person it is used to control a dead person’s body like a doll. He guesses that the rumour was deliberately spread, so that people who believed it would come here and in the end the queen would suck their blood.

But Dark Knight refuses to give up hope. After all, they’ve just started their second playthrough. Up till now, he has only lived for the sake of regaining his pride and sister. But after meeting Yuu, he has also learnt the joy of stepping on a new path. He’s sure that his sister will be happy to see him like this. He thanks Yuu and hugs her, much to her embarrassment. Dark Knight adds that he has also regained his clear and righteous spirit. Today would mark the start of that, and he’d like Yuu to be by his side. As the rest watch on, they observe that Dark Knight’s character seems to have changed completely after being awakened to justice. They interrupt the scene and decide to head to Dark Lord’s castle to rest. Dark Knight still hasn’t said his full lines, but Villager replies that they’ll just skip it all lol.

>> Dark Lord: While Dark Knight can’t understand why Yuu chose this quest, Dark Lord is thankful to her. But unlike the last time where she kept skipping through all his lines and scenes, this time he’ll make sure that everything is played out including his CG and his last transformation. As he cackles…evilly, the rest note that it’s the monster SFX playing again – he has no regard for the budget costs lol. Dark Knight adds that he’s changed a lot after he left his side. Dark Lord quickly checks to see if the hero party is at his castle only to realise that since this is a new game they’ve inherited their stats from the last time! That includes maximum levels, the finest armour and access to all the skills. In this case things won’t be different from the previous time lol. So Dark Lord has the idea of Yuu levelling him up too. It would take a while if they do it the usual way, so he considers gaining a rare magic item for him to level up easily. Since he’s the last boss in this game, naturally it would be in his castle so everyone heads there.

Dark Lord explains that after defeating him, a passageway to a hidden dungeon would be opened up where the magic item lies, left behind by the previous king. Since he has already been defeated, the dungeon is open already pfft. By right, a movie about the dungeon would play if you save after ending the game – but apparently Yuu skipped that too. In any case, since the dungeon is on his grounds Dark Lord should be able to just take the item easily. However, when they enter the traps start setting off and monsters start appearing. While the rest do their best to cope with it all, Dark Lord remains in shock. He soon questions for the reason, and the monsters claim that they’ve been deceived as they see him together with the very girl who defeated him. They refuse to listen to his explanation and continue attacking, so they decide to escape for now.

They escape temporarily to another room, and try to come up with a solution. They conclude that the monsters no longer approve Dark Lord as their master as he lacks dignity now. Hearing this, Dark Lord decides to unleash his final mode though he was planning on leaving it for the revenge battle. By right it would unlock when there’s blood from the hero party. For now he has no choice but to help himself to Yuu’s blood. At that moment, the monsters catch up to them and black smoke encircles Dark Lord – he’s now in his final mode and he demands the monsters to retreat for their master has returned. They obey, and the traps are destroyed automatically as Dark Lord walks pass. The rest follow behind him, while Dark Lord is overflowing with confidence. They go to retrieve the magic item, which is in the form of a strawberry. Dark Lord helps himself to it, and he’s filled with more power – though the rest notice that it’s only an additional 100 but they decide not to tell him lest he gets further depressed lol. Dark Lord thanks Yuu since it was thanks to her, that he was able to retrieve the item. He believes that the day he wish gets fulfilled is near.

>> Villager: Dark Lord stops everyone from setting off as he double-checks what Villager’s wish is. After all, if it’s just to meet Yuu then it’s already been fulfilled. Yet there isn’t any change. Villager replies that he hasn’t done anything after all, which causes Dark Lord to question what his real wish is then. Villager panics and says that he’ll think about it thoroughly tonight and asks the rest to stay for the night. He’ll immediately prepare dinner for them. The rest agree as Villager prepares dinner and mutters that in order for his wish to be fulfilled…there will need to be lots of preparation.

The next morning, everyone wakes up and discovers Yuu’s…embarrassingly revealing sleeping posture. When Yuu finally wakes up, she gets embarrassed and hits Dark Knight and Dark Lord – despite the fact that it was Slime who removed her blanket lol. Putting that aside, Villager finally knows his wish as he explains that his village is in a bit of trouble and he’d like for them to help. They agree and follow him out. But as they keep on walking, Slime remarks that it’s weird for his village to be so far from his own house. Hearing this, Villager exclaims that he forgot an item and asks Slime to retrieve it for him. When Dark Knight asks for the details, Villager points out that they’ve arrived and says that he’ll explain there. Strangely, there’s no sign of any people there so they tell Yuu to hide behind Villager. As the rest voice their suspicions, Villager attempts to explain that everyone is probably in the village elder’s house as he didn’t want to alarm them with their presence. He asks for Dark Knight to call out the village elder, while they head to the pub.

All of a sudden, they hear Dark Knight’s scream and Dark Lord also wonders why Slime is taking so long. Villager mutters that they’re all monsters after all but later reassures Dark Lord that they’ll meet very soon. He knocks out the Dark Lord, leaving only himself and Yuu. He hugs Yuu tightly, and reveals that his wish is to always be by her side – even if it means giving up everything. Villager prepares for the last step, as he casts a last spell and brings Yuu to a world of their own, literally. There’s nothing special about it, just like Villager himself. But at the same time he can change it as he likes. He explains that he’d always wanted her to recognise his existence – so he created a world just for them. As he laughs creepily, Villager adds that Yuu can’t go anywhere else, and no one else can come here.

In fact, he doesn’t even have a name. He’s merely an existence to give medicinal herbs away. When she started the game, they did talk a few times but he could only say his set lines. Still he was happy just to be able to converse with Yuu, and gradually he fell in love with her. After all, all the villagers in all the towns she travelled to – were all him. He started to want to go adventuring with her, and so he constantly waited for her to notice him in the next town. Yet when she was near the end of her adventure she didn’t bother to talk to any of the villagers anymore since they only say the same lines over and over again. All he wanted was to be noticed, yet she ignored him – since he had neither a name, personality or backstory like her party members did. He was just an empty mob character which she kept ignoring despite the fact that he loved her the most. And so he decided to create this world where she will recognise just him. He’s now no longer a villager which can be found everywhere, but the one and only villager that exists in this world for her. Villager kisses her, telling her not to resist since they’re going to be together forever now.

Just then, the rest of the members break in thanks to Dark Lord’s powers. They get Yuu to hide behind them, while they confront Villager. However, none of their attacks work on him. The latter explains that since he has no fixed setting, he can freely change the world and himself to his liking. Villager’s hair and eye colours have now changed, as he adds that he didn’t realise this at first. But when he started to act on his own will despite having no role, the world started to change. He could now change anything – his job, personality, status. The rest check his status, and realise that it’s true – his stats are now all maxed and all attacks are ineffective against him. Since he isn’t bound to any fixed settings, he’s also omnipotent. He decides to change his name to Last Boss, an unique and invincible existence – which naturally deals a shock to Dark Lord.

Yuu rushes to Villager’s side, and confirms that he did everything for her. All he needs now is for her to recognise him. Yuu reaffirms this, and agrees to go with him. Villager is delighted that his wish is finally fulfilled, and leans in to kiss her. Out of the blue, everything goes dark and they find themselves back in the village. Villager eventually realises that ‘cos his wish was fulfilled, the power he gained to fulfill it is now gone. Hearing this, Dark Lord prepares for payback time but Yuu stops him. Instead, Villager breaks down crying and Yuu comforts him. She’s willing to forgive him, and reassures him that he was useful to her back then with his information. Happy to hear this, Villager declares that he’ll aim to become a villager with just as much presence as a main character. The other villagers start to appear, so they decide to retreat.

They call the quest a close and head to Dark Lord’s castle to further discuss things. That being said, they don’t feel like doing anything else for the day. Dark Lord decides to hold a banquet and tells them to rest till then. He even has the V.I.P. room prepared for Yuu, while Villager laments at how he’s supposed to be a threatening existence to the world’s peace. Later on, Dark Lord finds Yuu wandering around. He guesses that she merely wants to return home. After they’d finished their quest earlier, he went to check if there were any changes at the lake – there were none though. Still, he feels as though the day she returns seems near. He won’t let her run away till he has that final showdown though.

Dark Lord tells her to come in for the banquet, and when everyone has gathered he starts doing a mike test, of sorts lol. He starts to introduce all the dishes in a menacing manner, giving them names like “The queer fish’s tour of hell”, “The churchman who drowned in a sea of milk” or “Strawberries crushed to death”. But the dishes are all actually quite regular stuff like strawberry millefeuille pfft. While Dark Knight and Villager get rather drunk, Dark Lord starts bragging about the quality of the food he always has to prepare himself for battle – but gets depressed when he’s reminded of his quick defeat despite that too. Meanwhile, Yuu pulls away from Slime’s tight grip which upsets him, as he remarks that tonight might be the last night she’s here. Still, he’s happy that he got to meet her again. Yuu refuses to let him stick to her again. A drunk Dark Knight is prompted to interfere, as he warns Slime again. He soon falls asleep though, and Slime decides to retire for the night too.

A maid informs Yuu that Dark Lord has cried himself to sleep too, and offers to see her back to her room. On the way there, the maid remarks that everyone will surely feel lonely to part ways with her. It’s the first time she’s seen Dark Lord have so much fun, since he lost the battle. And it’s the first time Dark Knight has passed out drunk, and for Slime to have such a serious expression – she doesn’t know much about Villager though. She advises Yuu to not regret anything when the time to part comes. Before leaving, the maid informs Yuu that there’s an onsen below too. When Yuu goes into her room, the maid transform into god who says that he’s given all the advice he can already. The rest is up to her.

As Yuu soaks in the water, she suddenly hears Villager’s voice. He’s surprised to see her here, and quickly goes to one side – but he has second thoughts and thinks that it’s alright just to peek a bit. Yuu doesn’t give him any chance though, and chases him away. Villager quickly apologises, and says that he only came to refresh himself from all that alcohol. He also couldn’t sleep as the thought that they’re going to part ways soon came into his mind. Though he wants to always be with her, he doesn’t want to make her sad either and tells Yuu not to force herself. After all, he likes her smile the most. Villager quickly excuses himself, and leaves. The next day, everyone is up pretty early as they couldn’t really sleep. As they discuss what’s next, they eventually come to the conclusion that it’s time to say goodbye. Though the party will be dispersed, it also means that a new journey is awaiting Yuu. They comfort Yuu and cheer her up. All of a sudden, a bright light encircles Yuu and lifts her up.

Common End

Taken aback by this, Dark Lord, Dark Knight and Slime do their best to bring Yuu back to their side. But nothing works, and they can only resign themselves to the fact that they can’t go against god’s wishes. They’re shocked when Villager changes from his usual self, overflowing with power. Villager remarks that he won’t let god have his way, and will make Yuu remain here. He adds that he’s an unique existence in this game, the last boss – which surprises Dark Lord lol. Villager corrects himself, saying that his powers to govern all creations surpasses god’s. His powers drive away the light, and Yuu lands safely with Slime’s help. A relieved villager’s appearances change back to normal, while Dark Lord is speechless to the fact that he’s more powerful than himself.

The members are back as a party, since it’s that person’s wish after all. He doesn’t think that Yuu an return while things remain that way. As Villager looks at them, Dark Knight stiffens and addresses him as “Last Boss-sama” lol. As Villager wonders what quest they should do next, he quickly adds that he won’t allow Yuu to return home. He reassures her that she can still live happily in this world with him, while laughing. Dark Lord can’t help but mutter that he’s scary. Since there’s no opinion, Villager decides to go hunting after dragons and leads the way.

Slime (CV: Takahashi Naozumi)

Normal End: Slime’s narration follows, as he says that god is too mean. By changing him into human form and meeting Yuu, it’s more painful when they have to separate – as opposed to always being unable to see her. So he decided to confront god, despite knowing that he isn’t that powerful. Yuu wakes up in the cave, and is disorientated. Slime explains that he did his best to have her stay behind, but when he did so she remained unconscious. So he had to carry her back here in his original form. Everyone says that they can’t be together as they’re different…species, but he’s happy to hear that she wants to remain with her. After all, someone once said that love can make the impossible possible. So surely one day they’ll both um, melt and become one – and then they’ll really be together till death. He suggests going out to travel, to find an item to help them do just that. While Yuu is hesitant, Slime takes it that she’s reluctant to leave the cave as it’s too comfortable – he thinks that she’s starting to become slime like him. /o\

He reassures her that it’ll be alright to go out anyway, as he’ll protect her. He’ll take responsibility for making her stay behind in this world. As Yuu feels sleepy, Slime lets her rest on his lap and tells her to sleep. He’s more than happy wait for her to wake up, as his wish has finally been granted.

Good End: Slime’s narration follows, as he says that he loves Yuu a lot to the point that he changed into human form. So he definitely didn’t want to part ways from her, and instead he followed her back – now she can’t abandon him anymore. Slime is bored but Yuu refuses to answer him, and continues studying. He uses his last resort, and sticks closely to her. If she doesn’t start to play with him, her clothes will start to disintegrate. Yuu immediately goes to retrieve the blow dryer, and aims it at Slime lol. Slime immediately apologises and releases her. He plans to go reflect on himself in the bathroom, but Yuu quickly stops him says that she won’t hate him. Instead, she’d like him to bear with it a bit more till she finishes studying. Slime happily obliges, and changes so that they can go out to the aquarium later.

Slime is delighted at the aquarium, though the atmosphere makes him want to…do stuff with Yuu too lol. Yuu firmly refuses, so he gives up. But in return, he sneaks a kiss. When she gets mad, he kisses her as a form of apology, and says that he’ll keep doing so till she forgives him pfft.

Dark Knight (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki)

Normal End: Dark Knight’s narration follows, as he recalls how much fear he felt when he saw Yuu being engulfed in that light. Somewhere along the way, Yuu became an important existence to him and he realised that he still had the capacity to love someone. He felt that he didn’t want to lose Yuu no matter what. Dark Knight isn’t so sure what happened after that as they uncovered a new hidden stage on the day he made Yuu stay behind. Perhaps it was all already planned by god, or perhaps it’s another bug. In any case, they plan to head out to check it out tomorrow.

He asks if Yuu’s afraid, and adds that he’s happy to be able to travel with her. Despite him being the one who made her stay behind, she doesn’t blame him and he’s thankful for that. By right he should let her go already, as he’s travelling to search for a way to revive his sister and it has nothing to do with Yuu. Still, he can’t do so. Yuu doesn’t mind this, and so Dark Knight swears to protect her till the last moment. Ever since he met her, he’s been cleansed by her. To him, she’s like the light. Yuu gets embarrassed by his words, which causes him to blush too. However, he states that those were his honest words. As they look out to the sea, Dark Knight remarks that their future lies ahead of them. He’s happy to be able to embark on this future together with her. There’s no telling what’s ahead, perhaps they’ll even find themselves in her world. He’s filled with anticipation at the thought of that. It would even be a miracle if they are able to travel between their worlds. Of course, what’s most important is that she’s by his side.

Good End: Dark Knight’s narration follows, his only wish was to revive his dead sister. That’s why he joined Dark Lord’s side, even if that meant betraying his sister and his own beliefs. But after meeting Yuu, he realised that losing her would prove to be even greater despair as compared to losing his sister. So he came to the resolution that no matter how much humiliation he’ll have to put up with, he’ll choose to be with her. In Yuu’s room, Dark Knight is seen trying to write a resume as he wants to find a job here asap. He doesn’t want to keep being under her care, but at the same time he’s failed to secure a job till now. He wonders if he’s being branded an a useless character in this world too. Yuu immediately denies this, which makes him feel better. As Yuu looks through his resume, she tries to get him to change the “special skills” he wrote as they are all RPG ones lmao. Other areas she gets him to change include his name, past jobs…by the way, his country is written as 8-bit country and his university is DotKare university ahaha.

Thankful to her, Dark Knight remarks that she’s like a sage to him in this world. But of course, she’s the one he loves too and if he’s with her, he’ll overcome all obstacles. He reassures Yuu that he isn’t pushing himself, and tells her to continue watching over him with that smile of hers. He gets ready to go out to get a new form, and asks for a kiss before he leaves. He’ll leave the rest for when he returns.

Dark Lord (CV: Sugita Tomokazu)

Normal End: Dark Lord’s narration follows, as he attempts to explain that since he’s role is an evil one it’s only natural that he’ll stop her from returning back to her world. But he soon apologises and admits that he was merely scared of losing her. In his castle, Dark Lord announces the start of the meeting on how to defeat the hero party but Yuu wants to sleep instead since he didn’t let her sleep much last night pfft. This embarrasses Dark Lord, as he tells her that others will misunderstand. But then he thinks that considering his position, it’s better for people to see him as a kichiku rather than a hetare who can’t even lay hands on a woman. So he tries to act as such, but Yuu merely yawns in return adding that it’s ‘cos he kept her up all night with his teary complaints pfft.

Unable to take any more of Yuu’s words, Dark Lord reminds her that though she did level up the hero party to the max it isn’t the same for herself. In other words, she herself is much weaker than him. He threatens to lash out all of his grudges right now, but says that he’s only joking. In fact, he’d rather protect her. Seeing her surprised face, Dark Lord states that he can’t always be the hetare and will also have to take responsibility for making her stay. He believes that he will change if she remains by his side, due to his desire to protect her. He’ll become strong for sure, and won’t let anyone else have her. He plans to let Yuu know just how important she is to him, as he hugs her. He teases Yuu as he says that he’s found her weakness, and thinks that it isn’t bad for his character to become a sadistic Dark Lord. In fact, they should rewrite the ending as the Dark Lord regaining his confidence and awakening to his sadistic side, who ends up living happily ever after with the girl from another world. His own story starts from this moment.

Good End: Dark Lord’s narration follows, as he states that by right they’re enemies. Yet they ended up travelling together due to god’s willfulness. But he’s thankful to that as he was able to find what was most important to him. In order not to lose her, he willingly gave up everything and followed Yuu to her world. In her room, Dark Lord is seen doing online shopping as he mutters that it’s convenient but hard to judge the quality of the items like this. When Yuu asks what he’s doing, he explains that he’s shopping for wool as he plans to knit a dress for her next. Seeing her surprised face, Dark Lord remarks that he’d wanted to see that expression during their last battle. He starts to get depressed as he recalls it all again, but stops himself midway as he says that he overcame that trauma to be with her after all.

In any case, it’s good that his skill now comes handy. He adds that ‘cos he was bored to death waiting for her party to arrive at his castle he ended up knitting. But now his goods are receiving praise in the knitwear magazines and people even contacted him to do a book on it. Dark Lord states that considering his position he needs to be good in everything anyway, but once again he recalls that bitter memory before stopping himself midway. He tries to think positively, and remarks that he should have a bright future here in knitwear. In that case, he won’t be humiliated anymore and will even be able to take care of her. He suddenly nears Yuu, as he claims that he’s confirming her sizes for the dress he’s making. He remarks that it’s a symbol of his love for her, so she should respond appropriately. However, Yuu gets embarrassed and hits him at his critical spot lol.

Dark Lord starts to sink in self-depression, and Yuu tries to comfort him as she says that she has a present for him too. It’s a knitwear, but Dark Lord is unable to pinpoint what it is due to its weird shape which saddens Yuu. Eventually, she explains that it’s a hat for him to cover his horns. He expresses his happiness, and says that he’ll wear it now and change into the clothes she got for him so that he can head out to buy wool. After changing, he wonders what magic she cast on him as he feels warm inside just like this. As he kisses Yuu, he says that he’ll have to cast his own magic on her too, so that she doesn’t leave his side – not till he does a wedding dress for her.

Villager (CV: Miura Hiroaki)

Normal End: Villager’s narration follows, as he recalls on how he’s a mere villager no powers. So he could only resign himself to the fact that he can’t do anything if she doesn’t look at him, or if she gives up on the game. But in fact he had a surprising power, as he managed to make her stay behind in this world. Though it appears that he used it all up when doing so, he’s satisfied as long as she’s with him – since he would no longer need it. Villager suggests a break from gathering medicinal herbs. He tells Yuu that there’s no need to work so hard, since it’ll be thrown away anyway – no one bothers with an item which can only heal 50 HP now. Seeing Yuu’s disappointed face, he tries to cheer her up. When she questions why he continues gathering them then, Villager explains that he has nothing else to do so he’d rather come out to gather herbs as opposed to staying at home. It’s more fun now that she’s with him. He recalls that the lake is nearby and suggests going there. But Villager quickly retracts his invitation as he’s worried that something may happen to her. He apologises since having her stay behind was all his doing, but Yuu only pats his head. With renewed resolution, Villager decides to go to the lake after all. After all, true love is to let the one you love do what she wants. He has gained many happy memories from her, so he’s sure that he’ll be fine even if he’s alone.

But Yuu refuses to, as she sees through his poor acting. Villager admits the truth, and says that he’s really happy that she’s chosen to stay with him. He promises to make her happy, and to not make her days here boring. The idea to create his own rare herbs dawns on him, as he explains that it isn’t impossible due to the bug. He’ll work hard to earn money and better their lifestyles. When Yuu comments that he’s like a different person, Villager says that it’s all thanks to her – she gave him the courage to take initiative. He asks to hold her hand, but soon after doing so he can’t help but hug her instead. He wishes that time could stop now, which causes Yuu to panic. Though he says that it’s only a joke for he no longer has that power, Yuu can’t keep her guard down. Villager reassures her once again, saying that was a mistake. As he continues to hug Yuu, he mutters that though he can’t stop time…if he continuously improves his herbs he can possibly gain enough strength to stop god if he attempts to bring Yuu back to her own world again. When Yuu asks what he was saying, Villager replies that he was merely wishing to god for this happiness to always continue.

Good End: Villager’s narration follows, as recalls how he resigned himself to the fact that his love for Yuu would never be returned. So when she recognised his existence he was really happy – it was like a miracle. But people are greedy creatures. He should’ve been happy just to be able to talk to her, but he kept desiring more…till he ended up following her back to her world. But he has no regrets. In her room, Villager and Yuu agree to have beef stew for dinner. She’s looking forward to it as his beef stews are delicious. She feels sorry for always making him do all the housework though. But Villager disagrees with her, saying that it’s what he’s here for – he’s happy that he’s a bigger support to her now than he was back then. So he tells her to focus on her studying. Villager is touched that he’s able to have a proper conversation with her, and to have her thank him. While Yuu thinks that his reaction is over the top, Villager explains that as mob characters they only have set lines. Moreover if none of the main characters approach them, they’re pretty much ignored – as good as the background. He quickly apologises for his words, not having intended to upset her.

But she’s recognised his existence, and he can be together with her like this now. Though her world was full of surprising things, it’s his specialty to adapt to his surroundings quickly after all. In fact, the neighbours greet him normally as they see him as a regular resident. Villager plans to be even more useful and of value to Yuu – till the point where she can no longer live without him… He quickly offers to massage her shoulders, but Yuu is apprehensive as there’s no telling what he’ll do. Though he reassures her that he’s perfectly harmless, she points out that there are times when he lets slip his darker side. Hearing this, Villager decides that there’s no need to restrain himself then. Yuu gets embarrassed, and he laughs at her reaction. He only wants to make her happy, so he has no intention of troubling her. Unlike the previous time, he has loads of time now so there’s no need to rush. He invites Yuu out to buy groceries for dinner. Outside, they spot an ice-cream cart and decide to share a cone. Villager takes a bite first, before kissing Yuu. As Yuu gets embarrassed, he says that no one is looking their way and that they should eat it before it melts. After all, the ice-cream tastes more delicious when eaten together – so he takes the chance to kiss her again.

Overall

It was a short but fun play! You can zoom through this quite quickly once you’ve finished the first playthrough. I was a bit disappointed to see that there was a hot spring scene with all the four guys in this one though. /o\ But I was interested in DotKare for Villager and was not disappointed though! I enjoyed Villager and Dark Lord the most so I’m glad that I left them for last. Sugita is the best casting for this series. (If you want to hear Villager’s inner thoughts, don’t forget to click on his CGs!) Anyway, though the individual endings are all romantic ones – you’d probably want to play Dot Kareshi more for the random and amusing RPG references. Like how the characters got their traumas lol. I was a bit apprehensive about the fact that the heroine doesn’t have any lines – but they still managed to make her personality come through. Though it’s really short as a game, considering the price I think it’s quite amazing for Rejet considering the cast and how polished it is.

By the way, I still can’t believe how Takashi can project that voice for Slime…

I shall try them out! Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve honestly just continuously been buying games and made like…zero progress with anything lately. Well, a little, but not substantial. Progress would be more like…finishing a game. Or at least finishing a route.

Also, I didn’t know where to write this, but I noticed you finished the 30 day otome game challenge! Good job! It looked fun, but I thought about it, and I really haven’t played enough games to finish it. There would’ve been too many repeats. I might try it in the future after I have more completed games under my belt, haha. By then, it probably won’t really be around anymore, but yeah…

No problem! Honestly after finishing DotKare III I wasn’t playing much. ;; But then recently I made myself go back to playing Ken ga Kimi and now that the route is more exciting I find myself getting back on-track. /o/

Thanks! I did a similar meme a few years ago and I did have more repeat answers then. XD Well…I think that if you’ve almost played 10 games it’s more than enough tbh. After all, it’s all for fun. (: You can still do the meme in the future and see how your answers have changed!

Ah, you’re working on Ken ga Kimi now? I just got mine in the mail a few days ago but I didn’t start it yet. So many goods things I heard about it. I really shouldn’t start anything new yet, though. It would be better if I can finish the ones I started. It would make the backlog feel a little less…backlogged?

I have played more than 10 games, but most of them are from series, so I don’t think it really counts. Like…3 games would be Amnesia/Later/Crowd. Then there’s Hakuouki/Zuisouroku/Yuugiroku, and Hana Awase Mizuchi-hen/Himeutsugi-hen. That already narrows it down immensely, so I would basically have the same answers for everything, haha. Perhaps if I played 10 games from independent series it would have made a difference…

Ahaha more like playing Ken ga Kimi XD At the start I felt so pressured to have to write my post while playing Ken ga Kimi that I couldn’t really enjoy the game. Especially with my tight schedule. So I decided to solely play, at least one playthrough, so that I can get a taste of the game. Now I’m almost finished with Kei’s route! But yeah…it may be better to finish the ones you’ve started for now haha.

Ahh that’s true. If you just count the series as one it would shrink the list. No worries, there’s no need to rush anyway. :3

That’s good. I mean, you don’t want to pressure yourself to the point that you can’t enjoy the game. I just played Jooubachi no Oubou Menou-hen and Himeutsugi-hen recently and wanted to try reviewing them both, but I think I’m too fickle to try to write reviews yet. I started but couldn’t motivate myself to replay in order to write the reviews so I gave up, haha. Also, since I don’t ‘understand’ everything in its minute details, there’s a lot more effort to it that I don’t think I’m ready to commit to. I have a lot of energy when I start things, but I burn out too quickly to finish them. I eve started translating a drama CD but haven’t touched it since the first day I worked on it. At least this has given me a greater appreciation for people who take the time to review and translate games and drama CDs. I feel like I always had a pretty healthy dose of appreciation, but now even more so than before.

Yeah, I actually decided to take a tally for fun just to give myself an idea of how many games I really did play. I have finished 8 games completely (Amnesia and Hakuouki were grouped together as a series but Hime/Mizuchi’s games and Snow Bride were separate because I didn’t actually finish them yet). I started but didn’t finish around 13 games. About 4 I really just started (like I didn’t even finish the prologues because I wasn’t feeling the game at the time). Some I played like…one dude’s route. So yeah. This obviously illustrates my track record quite well of starting but not finishing games…I don’t know if Tokimemo counts though because that game is long as hell and I don’t think I ever really intend on finishing all the guys…getting one guy is a huge undertaking on its own because of the game structure.

Like you said, though, there’s no rush. I don’t have a time limit or anything, it’s just depressing to look at that list since I have more unfinished games than finished ones.

Ohh well I understand. It’s not easy to review/translate so I’m always happy to hear it when people appreciate them. ^^ At least you understand your own personality well, and you can give yourself more time to think over whether you want to start blogging too~

Yeah games like Tokimemo can be tough to finish so…just take it that you’ve beaten the game once. XD Anyway you only recently started playing so it’s understandable. Back then there weren’t as many titles as there are now, so naturally you’d be tempted to try out more games now with more companies popping out.

I do understand myself but unfortunately I do sometimes too well. I don’t want to baby myself either, because otherwise I’ll never do it. I think I have the capacity to (and ability if I put my mind to it and stopped being lazy about looking things up), I just don’t have the motivation or commitment. I would definitely end up understanding more from the games that way too…but too many things going on in real life. You can’t tell from here because I check back on blogs I follow often and comment super often, but I really don’t have as much time as it seems like I do, haha. The time I played all those games in a row was a fluke.

Tokimemo is fun but definitely not made to easily finish. I feel like I could do it if I like…finished up one person and then didn’t play for a long time and did another one, but yeah, no energy for that. You have to play 3 years for each guy and then there are friend ends and double ends and stuff and I was pretty much thinking “no” after just the regular happy ends. That game is probably why I started playing other games the way I did; with my favorite character first, since in Tokimemo I just played my favorite two or three guys and didn’t even bother with the rest.

Playing for a year really feels like a lot of time but it actually isn’t I guess. Most of you guys have been around for years so that makes sense.

Well we all have phases. Sometimes I look back and wonder how I managed to play all those games, when now I’m taking my own sweet time just to finish one. And it isn’t even that lengthy compared to others to be honest. /o\ Oh well, since it’s a phase it should pass right? Haha.

This is true. I have a little more time now I guess so I’ve been going through my current game fairly quickly but I know it’s not like I’ll be able to do that all the time. And I feel you. I embarrassingly still haven’t finished Snow Bride despite really liking the series and that game is a FD so it’s not even that long…

It should pass, haha. I have faith in you. I mean, you’ve managed to keep up your blog this long. Breaks now and then are sometimes necessary.

Sobs I really would love to post for Ken ga Kimi already (I’ve finished two routes…) but work just drains me so at the end of the day I don’t feel like doing anything. ;; But I am enjoying Ken ga Kimi so far. /o/ Good to hear that you’re going through your current game smoothly!

Like most things in life, as soon as I say I’m going through a game pretty smoothly, I stop playing, haha. It’s not because I don’t feel like it, it’s just because other things take priority. I am a little worried for all the PSP games I have that I haven’t played yet though, because based on the interface and graphic quality, the Vita is spoiling me. of course, this is just based off one game so we’ll see.

I’m glad you have the desire to post a review at least. That should make it more smooth when you actually get to it, right? I’m guessing that like playing, some routes are harder to write about either because of the content or because you just don’t have the real desire to write about it.

I want to play Ken ga Kimi, but I gotta work myself up to PC games since there’s less flexibility and mobility when playing them…I suppose I don’t have the super strong desire to play it either though, because if I did, it would’ve been like…Himeutsugi-hen where as soon as I opened it and installed it, off I went.

Yeah, writing the routes out is certainly different from just playing it – especially when you’re trying to start lol. I keep telling myself that I’ll start writing once I finish this scene etc. but so far I haven’t…oops.

That’s true. But I’m pretty sure that you’ll enjoy Ken ga Kimi! It starts out a bit slow but once the pace picks up you’ll want to keep going. XD

I can imagine. I only started writing out a little that one time I actually tried to legitimately write a review but it tapered off because I didn’t know how detailed I wanted to make it. I wasn’t even 100% sure whether I wanted to try writing a spoiler-filled or unspoiler version. Either way, I just got tired when I was re-playing the game to try and get some events down that I had missed so I never finished, haha. It took very long to write a very small portion of the game so I completely sympathize. At least you’re enjoying Ken ga Kimi though!

I’m 99% sure I will enjoy the game. I had to leave a 1% chance of not liking it because I’m rather pessimistic though, haha. I love historical stories (super huge fan of historical dramas). They have a certain essence that isn’t there in modern stories. I actually just like history too, so there’s a lot going for this game. Plus, although I’ve completely avoided spoilers this time around, I only hear good things about it so it’s more a matter of being in the mood, I guess. I’m sure once I get into it I’ll just keep going.